Interior Ministry reveals alleged Brotherhood plan

The International Organisation of the Muslim Brotherhood has been holding meetings to plan increasing “Brotherhood assaults in the country (Egypt) against military and police personnel,” the Interior Ministry has claimed.(DNE File Photo)

The International Organisation of the Muslim Brotherhood has been holding meetings to plan increasing “Brotherhood assaults in the country (Egypt) against military and police personnel,” the Interior Ministry has claimed.

The plan the ministry revealed also includes targeting public and private institutions “and spreading panic among citizens.”

The ministry released a statement on Saturday, saying that the plan it discovered was set to be implemented over the next three months. Its purpose, the ministry says, was to imply locally and internationally that the regime is incapable of managing the state’s affairs and implementing the roadmap.

Mostafa Al-Khatib, a member of the media team of the Freedom and Justice Party’s website said talk of the Brotherhood carrying out assaults is “not correct.”

“It is not [like] the Brotherhood’s behaviour to carry arms,” he added.

The ministry stated that the plan includes “obstructing the roadmap,” particularly the referendum on the constitution. Al-Khatib said the Anti-Coup Alliance, which includes the Brotherhood, does not even acknowledge the legitimacy of what is going on so as to obstruct it.

The plan allegedly involves organising action in public transportation during rush hours in order to disrupt traffic, continuing to hold events in schools and universities and even escalating action in order to disrupt classes. Students across the county, including from Cairo University, Al-Azhar, Mansoura, Alexandria and Zagazig universities, have held demonstrations since the beginning of the academic year. In many cases, the protests have turned into violent stand-offs with security forces.

Al-Khatib said events will continue but “not with the purpose of obstructing traffic. The purpose is to oppose the coup.”

The plan the ministry cited includes launching a campaign against members of the Constituent Assembly who are currently amending the constitution and announcing a black list with the names of the judges and members of prosecution investigating the charges against Brotherhood members.

The alleged plan also includes expanding the base of Anti-Coup Alliance, also known as the National Coalition to Support Legitimacy, and spreading geographically including with a focus on Greater Cairo.

The statement details that Brotherhood members have held “secret meetings” in some governorates to agree on mechanisms for the plan.

After learning that Muslim Brotherhood members in Alexandria were planning to hold a meeting on Friday, security forces arrested 13 of them in possession of several documents including one that detailed the plan. But lawyer Ahmed Al-Ghamry said the 13 people who were arrested do not all belong to the Muslim Brotherhood. “They belong to different currents,” he said.

The ministry said the 13 who were arrested are being presented to the prosecution to commence investigations.

Authorities have led a crackdown on the Islamists after Morsi’s ouster on 3 July and most Brotherhood leaders have been detained, many facing trials. On 23 September the circuit court for urgent matters in Abdeen ruled to disband the Muslim Brotherhood Organisation and ordered the confiscation of its capital.

Muslim Brotherhood figures who have been detained and have frozen assets include Supreme Guide of the Muslim Brotherhood Mohamed Badie and his deputies Khairat El-Shater and Rashad Bayoumi. Former MPs Mohamed Al-Beltagy and Farid Ismail, and former Shura Council member Sobhi Saleh are also behind bars.